This invention relates to the art of fluid flow piping systems and, more particularly, to adapter fittings and connectors for use in such systems.
Piping, hose and tubing systems have been in use for many years for harnessing fluid flow. In the past fifty years the need to harness flows of higher pressures has arisen and there have been provided many adapters and connecting systems in an attempt to better utilize fluid flow systems. These systems have attempted to provide constructions which contain the flow without failures or leakage and with ease of assembly and maintainability. More recently, the hydraulic industry in the United States has promoted the SAE Straight Thread Standard J1926 and the SAE Four Bolt Standard J518 as the ports that best meet this criteria. Further, the rest of the world is tending to follow the United States industry in this regard. However, the connecting of these systems with the devices of the prior art is accomplished in an awkward and inefficient manner by employing numerous connectors in combination to make the interconnection between the fluid flow components. While welded connections have been used to help reduce the number of connectors and improve the integrity of the assembly, this generally involves higher costs.
In practice, it is always desirable to have a component terminate at a flange port. The SAE Four Bolt Standard J518 port incorporates a port with a flat flange face surface and four taped mounting holes in a rectangular bolt pattern. The SAE Straight Thread Standard J1926 port has a counterbored face containing a standard O-ring which makes for a virtually leakproof joint while the straight thread is employed only for the mechanical strength of the joint. By having a component terminate at a flange port, each component may be easily slipped out of the system simply by removing the bolts holding the connecting flanges together. However, in present-day systems, many components are only supplied with SAE straight threads or the old tapered pipe threads. Also many components, when supplied with the SAE flange ports, are available at a significant premium in price. Accordingly, for the above-stated reasons, it is necessary to make a large number of thread-to-flange connections and with the present-day connection fittings available in the art, it is inefficient to do so.
It is the general object of the invention to provide a vastly improved system and devices for adapting and connecting threads to flange ports. Preferably, this system will employ the straight thread as this ensures a virtually leakproof connection and the accurate positioning of the flange. An important advantage of the system of the invention is that a small number of connectors are required to provide a large number of efficient and effective connecting means.
The present invention is an improvement over the adapter fitting disclosed in my copending application Ser. No. 776,497 filed Sept. 16, 1985 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,369, wherein it is taught how to effectively adapt a thread to a flange. In accordance with the present invention, the art is taught how to further connect the adapter fittings of said patent application to various novel connectors to very efficiently and effectively mechanically interconnect system components. Moreover, this desirable result is achieved in a manner that does not require welding and employs a minimum of connectors, time, skill and effort while ensuring a virtually leakproof system of high integrity that also permits easy maintenance and replacement of components.
More specifically, the invention solves one of the greatest needs and desires of the hydraulic industry, namely, to eliminate port leakage and improve system integrity by permitting the use of only SAE straight thread ports and SAE four bolt ports pursuant to SAE standards. The invention provides an effective adapter system between the above-described SAE straight thread ports and the SAE four bolt ports, which are the two preferred ports of the hydraulic industry.